Preston North End director Peter Ridsdale has revealed that the Lilywhites have asked Aston Villa about the availability of Cameron Archer ahead of the summer transfer window.
The summer transfer window opens at the end of this week and clubs in and around Europe look set for another busy showing.
One club who might be busier than most is Preston North End.
Ryan Lowe guided the club to a 13th place finish last season, and his rebuild of the club is well underway with Preston having let go a number of first-team players as per their retained list last month.
There’s plenty of gaps to fill in his side. One void in particular that needs filling is the one left by Archer, who scored seven in 20 league appearances on loan at Deepdale during the second half of last season.
But the Lilywhites could yet be welcoming Archer back to the club this summer.
Ridsdale said on From the Finney podcast (via BirminghamLive):
“We have asked the question of Aston Villa. We have made it absolutely clear that, were he to be available for loan, we will match any other deal in the Championship to get him back.
“And they have just said ‘we will come back for pre-season and take a view subject to what recruitment they do’, so we don’t know. We’re planning the squad without him, but leaving a slot in the squad for him and let’s see what happens.”
Preston to face competition for Archer?
Archer’s form on loan at Preston during the second half of last season will surely have put the youngster in the shop window.
He has all the attributes needed to be a potent attacker in the second tier and if there’s not a spot for him in Villa’s first-team next season, then Steven Gerrard will surely want to see him playing regularly in the Championship.
The Villa boss knows that Archer will get good experience at Deepdale, but he might yet want him to be playing for a team looking to challenge at the top end of the table.
It remains up in the air at the moment, but Preston certainly look keen.
